Tagged: climate change

Newspaper warns of human-induced climate change in 1912 - Code for life

Grant Jacobs • Aug 17, 2018 •

• 1912,
• climate change,
• New Zealand,
• newspaper

We’ve had more than 100 years of warnings of human-induced climate change now. It’s nearer 200 years, really. Before records were taken they would be extrapolations rather than observations. Extrapolations are harder for those outside of science to trust, but extrapolations are part of what science does. Looking to where things might go is useful. This pithy, insightful newspaper article … Read More

Understanding and Improving the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme - Guest Work

Guest Author • Aug 14, 2018 •

• Climate,
• climate change,
• emissions trading,
• emissions trading scheme

Catherine Leining, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research To chart a successful future for the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS), we need to understand its present and its past. Researchers from Motu Economic and Public Policy Research have published a new Guide to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme. This guide covers the basics of how … Read More

Net-zero carbon emissions: a “massive economic boost”? - The Dismal Science

Michael Reddell • Aug 06, 2018 •

• climate change,
• economics,
• green economy,
• Net-zero carbon emissions

James Shaw, co-leader of the Green Party and Minister for Climate Change (surely Minister against it?), tells us he is working his way through 15000 submissions on the recent climate change consultation document.  I’ve done a couple of posts here on the document, and on the NZIER modelling used extensively in it, and I’ve chided both the Minister … Read More

Funding science journalism in Aotearoa - News

Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Jul 23, 2018 •

• climate change,
• controversial technologies,
• CRISPR,
• election 2017,
• healthcare,
• robots,
• Science journalism,
• sea level rise,
• synthetic meat

The Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund is now in its third round, with applications closing this week, which seems like a good time to celebrate some of the great journalism that’s been enabled by the fund. It’s the first independent journalism fund dedicated to furthering coverage of the science-related issues that impact New Zealanders. Dr Rebecca Priestley, winner … Read More

New Zealand’s zero carbon bill: much ado about methane - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jul 14, 2018 •

• agricultural greenhouse gases,
• climate change,
• methane,
• Zero Carbon Bill

Robert McLachlan, Massey University New Zealand could become the first country in the world to put a price on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Leading up to the 2017 election, the now Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern famously described climate change as “my generation’s nuclear-free moment”. The promised zero carbon bill is now underway, but in an unusual … Read More

Coldplay conundrum: how to reduce the risk of failure for environmental projects - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jul 11, 2018 •

• climate change,
• low-emission economy,
• One Billion Trees,
• Paris Agreement

David Hall, Auckland University of Technology New Zealand’s government has committed to planting one billion trees as part of a transition to a low-emission economy, in line with its commitments under the Paris Agreement. The One Billion Trees Programme promises to deliver combined benefits, not only by offsetting greenhouse gas emissions, but also reducing erosion … Read More

A bird’s eye view of New Zealand’s changing glaciers - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jun 08, 2018 •

• climate change,
• glaciers,
• NIWA,
• snowline

Andrew Lorrey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research; Andrew Mackintosh, Victoria University of Wellington, and brian.anderson@vuw.ac.nz, Victoria University of Wellington Every March, glacier “watchers” take to the skies to photograph snow and ice clinging to high peaks along the length of New Zealand’s Southern Alps. This flight needs to happen on cloud-free and … Read More

Postcards from La La Land #132: time warps and twaddle - Hot Topic

Gareth Renowden • Jun 07, 2018 •

• climate change,
• New Zealand Geographic

I don’t wander over to the dark side1 very often – NZ’s climate cranks are an unedifying bunch at the best of times – but I was somewhat surprised to find myself featuring in their current top story — National Geographic ignores the need for evidence. Not that they … Read More

Why blowing the 1.5C global warming goal will leave poor tropical nations sweating most of all - Guest Work

Guest Author • May 31, 2018 •

• 1.5C,
• climate change,
• inequality,
• Paris Agreement

Andrew King, University of Melbourne and Luke Harrington, University of Oxford Almost all of us are going to be worse off as climate change takes hold, whether through heatwaves, changing rainfall patterns, sea level rise, or damage to ecosystems. But it’s the world’s poorest people who will suffer the biggest disruptions to … Read More

Aerosols: the disco balls of Earth’s atmosphere - Guest Work

Guest Author • May 18, 2018 •

• aerosols,
• climate change,
• Deep South National Science Challenge,
• dimethyl sulfide,
• Southern Ocen,
• sulfate aerosols

Dr Laura Revell When you say ‘aerosols,’ I think deodorant spray cans… Yes and no. Aerosols – tiny particles or droplets suspended in the air – are the mist of liquid particles that come out of spray cans. But they also exist in the atmosphere on vast scales and are produced from various natural processes and human activities. Such as? … Read More